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DOOM: The wait is over

Should this have been nicknamed DOOM: Forever? It took almost as long for this title to see the light of day as Duke Nukem: Forever did; fortunately, this one actually turned out to be a good game.

For the two of you who actually liked the last Duke game, you may navigate to a different URL.

It was good that DOOM was stuck in Hell, development hell, of course, so that the fine folks at id Software would have a chance to realize that what was going to be DOOM 4 was too much like Call of Cod Fishing or whatever it is that kids play these days. With a fresh start and new development after 2011, what is now DOOM (2016) is upon us. This is the best old-school action game that I’ve played since… well, I’ll just say it was back when people were still scared of Y2K.

DOOM is a remake (not a reboot, because we’re not restarting the first game to its original state), much like DOOM 3 was a re-imagining of the original story. The setting and story here at times feels like it could tie into the third game, aided by the UAC Mars base having a similar aesthetic and vibe to Mars City in DOOM 3. One could even stretch their imagination and say that this might be a sort of prequel to the original games, showing us where the legendary DOOMGuy actually came from and how he kicks such copious amounts of demon ass.

But, meh, at the end of the day, how many of us play this game for the story? Whether you prefer to head-canon this game into the rest of the DOOM chronology or you don’t care, you will still be able to enjoy this title because it is all about the action.

DOOM (2016) is an unapologetic slaughterfest of relentless carnage, over-the-top gunplay and a merciless sense of speed. The game runs at a constant 60FPS even in the thick of the action, with impressive visual details and affects. The environments are not as destructive as I’d hoped for (mostly you can only destroy the classic exploding barrels) but you’ll seldom have time to care as you’re running and gunning against the demon horde.

While at first I found this odd, this DOOM frequently locks you down in areas of the map until you clear out a host of enemies, not unlike an improvised arena. I initially missed being able to draw enemies out and use other areas of the map as fallback points like in the classic games, but then as i understood more of this new game’s design, I began to love the twist. In this new game, you don’t regenerate health on your own; cowering or hiding or just generally not moving enough leads to a quick death and a trip to the loading screen. You have to fight to survive, so by frequently locking you down with the enemy with the only escape being by killing them all, the game forces you to be aggressive. This to me is incredibly refreshing and feels like a direct punch in the face to the endlessly repeated and done-to-death mechanics of Cod Fishing and Halo.

The motion blur and special affects are fluid, seamless, and don’t slow down the action.

The push to fight is aided by a glorious selection of weapons, some of which are old favorites, others are DOOM-flavored versions of weapons we’ve seen before. Even as-is the guns are satisfying and interesting, while being well-balanced against each other. But most of the weapons have two different mods that add a secondary firing option, further increasing their utility. On top of that, there are weapon masteries, regenerating equipment, and demonic runes that provide bonus abilities and boosts to the DOOM Marine’s already impressive badassery.

I loved almost every moment of this new DOOM’s awesome campaign, a blood-soaked 12 to 13 hour ride of acrobatic, adrenaline fueled combat against the forces of Hell, tempered by interesting, non-linear level design and exploration inspired by classic FPS games. The soundtrack was also intense and perfectly fit the mood of the game, with a combination of gothic atmosphere and death metal. I only wish there was more of it, the way the music was always a present factor in classic DOOM. Overall, I came away from the campaign feeling like I had just played the best parts of classic DOOM, Quake, and Unreal Tournament.

Is that a flaming sword or are you just happy to see me?

I would probably have been happy with just the campaign and its punch in the face to modern first-person shooters, but this game does of course have multiplayer. As of this review I’ve not played it in depth, but it does hearken back to Quake III: Arena as well as the aforementioned Unreal Tournament, with modern touches such as customization, loadouts and leveling. The modes and offerings seem lean at this point (though naturally there is a season pass with promised future multiplayer DLC) and it remains to be seen if this multiplayer will stand the test of time.

The third aspect to this package, and not an inconsiderable one, is the SnapMap feature. As soon as I saw this in DOOM’s big E3 reveal, I thought, “ah-ha! They’ve resurrected the map editor from TimeSplitters!” Does no one remember TimeSplitters? That game rocked, yet seems largely forgotten in gaming history. Anyway…

SnapMap is a map and game editor that, while not as open-ended and powerful as making your own DOOMWads in the classic games, lets you quickly and painlessly piece together custom maps and game types that you can play solo, in co-op, or in multiplayer deathmatch. There are already lots of interesting creations available, with the predicted bevy of horde/zombie/survival gametypes as well as classic map remakes. There is also some music maker and whack-a-mole going on, which, hey, if that’s your thing… Given that the game is barely a week after launch and there is already some interesting content, I am sure that there will be some amazing custom fanmade offerings in the future. I just hope that Bethesda and id will deign to offer some expansions for the campaign and SnapMap in the future instead of only offering new content for the multiplayer.

Overall, I consider DOOM (2016) to be a fresh kick in the ass for a gaming world that sorely needed it. This is the best game I’ve played in this generation.

I decided not to break down individual categories the way I usually do for game reviews, for the simplest reason, because I am giving this game an A on all marks. The graphics, sound, design, and gameplay are all top notch. The only negative things I take away from my review is the lack of a manual save system, and not enough classic modes for multiplayer.

Below are a few clips of me playing this game on Xbox One. The screenshots above were pulled from my own gameplay footage. When time permits there will be more coverage of this game on our Youtube channel.